Improvement in shifting rails for buggy-tops



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOHN F. REGAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN SHIFTING RAILS FOR BUGGV-TOPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 119,951, dated October 17, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN F. REGAN, of Ghi-` cago, in the county of (look and State of Illinois, h. ve invented certain new and useful Improvements in Carriage-Seats; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the saine, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of a carriage seat, showing the application of my improvement; and Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the seat with the shifting rail removed.

Similar letters of reference in the accompanying drawings denote the same parts.

In the construction of carriage-seats, particularly buggies, it has been the custom to provide a shifting rail `by which a top may be attached to the seat when desired. The method of forining. and applying these rails constitutes the subject of many patents, the principal object sought being that of facilitating the attachment and removal both of the top and the rail, the former in its relation to the rail and the latter with respect to the seat. In the majority of instances the shifting rails are constructed wholly of iron rods or bars and attached to the seat by projecting feet .or points in such a manner that the rail proper is elevated several inches above the back of the seat. This method of attachment is open to two serious objections, the basis of which is the want of sufficient security against displacement arising from the rough usage to which vehicles of this class are necessarily subjected. First, the sudden wrenching of the top when the vehicle passes over rough ground creates a powerful strain upon the connections, which, owing to their isolation from each other, must 4sustain it separately; and, as this strain cannot be uniformly distributed7 one foot or projection is liable to receive the largest amount and become broken. Secondly, if one or more of the connecting feet becomes broken the rail must drop down upon the back of the seat at the point where the break occurs, throwing the buggy-top on one side, and frequently tearing it entirely from the rail.

My invention does not relate to the means of connecting the carriage-top to the shifting rail, but has for its object to improve the construction of the latter and its means of attachment to the seat, for the purpose of overcoming the difiiculties above enumerated. To this end, the invention consists in forming the rail of wood, equal in length and thickness and in its general configuration to the upper surface of the seatback, which is made iiat and wide to support it. The rail thus constructed is attached to the flattened edge of the seatback in such a manner as to bear thereon equally at all points, presenting the appearance of a continued back instead of a shiftin g rail. The connecting-feet are let into the seat-back, and all strainl upon them is distributed uniformly throughout the rail, 'because the whole under surface of the latter bears upon the back. In fact, the strain is resisted by the whole seat-back, as the latter and the rail are, in effect, one piece.

In the drawings, A is the carriageseat, constructed in the usual manner, and B its back, having a wide, iiat upper edge, as shown in Fig. 2. O is the shifting rail, composedof wood, with a fiat under surface corresponding to the iiat edge of the back B and provided with the usual projecting arm d for the attachment of the carriagetop, and also with the back-rest E. The back-rest is supported from the back of the rail by means of braces j', whose lower ends are formed with pintles to engage the eyes g projecting from the seat-back, as shown. rlhe proximate faces of the back B and the rail are provided with metallic plates H I to protect the wood-work. The outer ends of the plate H upon the back are provided with holes j to receive notched pins or arms projecting from the outer ends of the rail-plates H, which pins are locked within the holes by the spring-catches K. A central guide-pin upon the under surface of the rail enters a hole, l, in the center of the backplate I, to prevent the rail from shifting laterally and thereby displace the pintles from the eyes g.

By this construction and arrangement the wooden rail bears with its entire under surface upon the back of the seat, forming, in fact, a continuation of the latter, and is, therefore, securely held in place. If, by any unusual accident, one of the connecting-pins becomes broken, the rail cannot drop down, but still holds the top in an upright position.

The rail is applied With the utmost ease by back of the seat so as to bear thereon at al simply hooking' the pintles within the eyesgand points, substantially as and for the purposes then swinging the rail down upon the back, the specified.

sprin g-catches holding it in place. JOHN F. REGAN.

Having thus described my invention7 what I claim is Witnesses:

The Wooden shifting rail for carriage-seats, E. H. GLEASON,

constructed as described and attached to the v J. T. GLEAsoN. (31) 

